"Of course, we don't have to buy, but ~high prices and bump/bump/bump threads are a little annoying!"

I agree that the bumping of sale threads has become an annoyance. I'm on another forum (non backpacking) with a selling subforum, and, in order to bump your thread, you have to reduce your asking price by at least 5%.

I've posted wtb ads when I was able for old stoves and cruise the adds for gear, mostly stoves. I now visit BPL quite a bit for info and still looking for stuff to buy, never know. The most active buy/sell place I know of outside CL and eBay.Duane

Why do people sell so much stuff? I have only sold two pieces of gear on BPL in several years. One was a BPL Thorofare shirt that did not live up to Ryan Jordan's hype. I sold it when someone posted a WTB. The second item I sold was when I somehow accidentally ordered a under-quilt from Tim Marshall, instead of a regular quilt.

Maybe folks should quit buying stuff they don't need or research gear a little further? Most of the stuff I have bought that did not live up to expectations I give to people who may not be able to afford it, especially Boy Scouts and college students.

Some of us just enjoy it, Nick. I know I do. It's like a hobby, really. I don't rebuild motorcycles, I don't collect figurines, I buy and sell backpacking gear for kicks (I certainly don't do it for profit!). It's relatively harmless, and better than smoking! ;-)

I know Frank, one of the CA crowd I bp with some, he says many like to try gear out, then if they don't like it, sell it. Quite a bit of that going on here. Like the one topic about some needing the latest and greatest.Duane

I agree with Greg. If the items for sale are in good enough condition and a buyer deems it a fair price, then it's fine by me. I always do a price search on the net before I sell any gear, just to make sure I'm starting with a fair price. Yeah, there have been a lot of sales going on (Golite for example), but as far as I know, you don't see a lot of ULA, MLD, or Tarptent gear on sale directly from the manufacturer. Because of that, the gear swap is a great place to try out slightly used gear with the safety net of being able to resell if it doesn't work out, avoid 8-12 week wait times, and send gear off to someone who may get more use out of it.